Neck and neck in Indiana

A new statewide poll of Indiana voters shows Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in a statistical tie, in a state whose early May primary is a must-win for the trailing Clinton candidacy.

The survey, by Del Ali of Research 2000, shows Clinton with 49 percent and Obama at 46 percent. A total of 400 Indiana voters were interviewed: The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent.

The poll shows Hoosier voters divided by age and race.

Obama has a big lead, 63 percent to 36 percent, among voters 18 to 29 years of age. But Clinton is far ahead, 60 percent to 34 percent, along voters over 60. Obama takes 81 percent of the African-American vote. African-American voters made up 12 percent of the survey.

The poll was commissioned by the South Bend Tribune, WSBT-TV, and WISH-TV in Indianapolis.

The Indiana Primary, in May, used to be a significant in the presidential cycle.

Alabama Gov. George Wallace stunned the Johnson Administration by taking 29 percent of the state’s vote in 1964. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy carried the state in 1968 by a narrow margin against Gov. Roger Branigan, an LBJ stand-in, and fellow anti-war Sen. Eugene J. McCarthy.

Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Indiana, is a Clinton endorser and possible vice presidential nominee. Onetime U.S. House powerhouse John Brademas is also suppoting the New York senator.

But Obama has scored two big endorsements this week, from former Indiana lawmakers who served on the 9/11 Commission. He has won the backing of ex-Rep. Tim Roemer, and former House Foreigh Affairs Committee chairman Lee Hamilton.

How divided are the Democrats?

Ethel Kennedy, RFK’s widow, will campaign for Obama in South Bend later this week. But two of her own children, Robert Kennedy, Jr., and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, are backing Clinton.